A girl has donated the money she had saved for meeting her father’s medical expenses to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, after her father died of a heart attack in February, last year.
When Collector K. Senthil Raj, MP Kanimozhi and Minister for Social Welfare P. Geetha Jeevan participated in an event organised at Shanmuga Sigamani Nagar in Kovilpatti on Saturday, N. Ridhana, 12, of Rajiv Nagar near Paandavarmangalam, a class VIII student, donated her savings of ₹1,970 towards Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund.
The reason she gave for donating the money left everyone speechless.
“I used to give my savings to my dad whenever my family faced unexpected expenses. I thought that my savings would save my father from the heart ailment he was suffering from. But he succumbed to the ailment. So, I decided to donate my savings to the Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund as it can be used to save the fathers of a few more children like me,” Ridhana said.
Ridhana’s father Nagaraj, 42, was working with a Bengaluru-based company as a manager and was under treatment for a while.
“When we could not meet the huge medical bills, he withdrew a portion of money from his provident fund. When we were discussing about it, my daughter, who happened to hear it, said she would give her entire savings to meet the medical expenses. She used to give money from her savings to her poor schoolmates to meet their needs. After helping her friends and my husband from her savings of ₹8,540, she had ₹1,970 with her when my husband passed away. On seeing the traumatised children undergoing treatment for COVID-19 on television, she decided to donate her savings to Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund,” said her mother, N. Amutha.
